Dáil debates
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Priority Questions
Departmental Agencies
3:00 am
Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 54: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the details regarding the proposed future reorganisation of FÁS; if her Department has held discussions with FÁS regarding the proposed changes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41602/10]
Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The reorganisation and reform of FÁS and of the State's provision of training and employment services is a process that I initiated over a year ago.
The first phase involved the putting in place of a stronger board and corporate governance structure in FÁS and this was provided for in the Labour Services (Amendment) Act 2010. The second phase, announced by the Taoiseach, involves the division of responsibility for training and employment programmes and services between the newly mandated Departments of Education and Skills and Social Protection. These changes will improve the delivery of employment, training and community services to the public by bringing together related responsibilities in these areas.
The Employment Programmes and Services and Skills Training (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order of 2010, which came into force on 1 May 2010, provided for the reallocation of responsibility for FÁS as an agency and its related funding from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation to the Department of Education and Skills. The Department of Social Protection will, following the commencement of the relevant sections of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2010, assume funding and overall responsibility of FÁS employment services and employment programmes.
The social welfare and pensions Bill 2010, which is due to be published shortly, will provide for the full transfer of FÁS employment services and employment programmes to the Department of Social Protection and this would include the transfer of relevant FÁS staff, property, land as well as certain rights and responsibilities to that Department. This will amend the Labour Services Act 1987.
In the period between the commencement of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2010 and the commencement of the relevant sections of the social welfare and pensions Bill 2010, a service level agreement will be put in place between the Department of Social Protection and FÁS. Officials from my Department, FÁS and the Department of Social Protection are working closely together to advance this agenda.
The third phase involves the re-structuring and re-mandating of FÁS as a newly-focussed skills and training provider. I met with the board of FÁS this morning to discuss its proposal for a new training agency. Work has commenced on this process and will continue in tandem with the integration of the employment programmes and employment services into the Department of Social Protection.
Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Tánaiste for her reply. Will she identify the number of civil servants at senior level or, if she knows, principal officer level, who have now been moved in to FÁS to deal with the issues there? I suppose the key question we on this side of the House all want answered is, has the leopard changed its spots. Have practices changed utterly in FÁS?
One of the issues that arose recently was the question of certification of courses, which were fixed - where people had failed they were deemed to have passed. Has the Tánaiste heard anything further on this issue and is she aware of an allegation that some participants in the course batch of which I speak, who had originally failed and were passed, were brought back for re-sits, that not all of them re-sat their examinations but they are getting their certification? That is a serious issue. I ask the Tánaiste to investigate it with urgency because the credibility of FÁS remains at stake. Has the leopard changes its spots or not?
Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I do not have detail to hand on the number of public servants who will be transferred as it was not part of the question but I would be more than happy to give Deputy O'Dowd the numbers in due course. This relates to the division of FÁS training agency and FÁS employment services, which will transfer to the Department of Social Protection. I reiterate that there has been a considerable reduction in the numbers within the FÁS agency over the last period.
The board of FÁS has been asked to do a number of things. The first was to deal with the issues of corporate governance. All of those issues have been addressed and the mandates set down to them have been met. There is no point in Deputy O'Dowd shaking his head because that has happened.
Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The issue of corporate governance - all of these issues - have been met.
The second issue was to do with the qualifications and quality assurance. That work has been happening. Third, there has been an investigation carried out in a number of areas. We are also changing the methodologies and the quality assurance provisions within FÁS. That is ongoing.
Fourth, it is important to refocus on what benefits a new strategic FÁS will bring, and that benefit will be learner focused. We will be strategic in the skills and training needs of FÁS-----
Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I want to get in a further supplementary.
Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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-----which will not overlap with other providers in further education and VECs. The strategic focus will definitely be on how we will provide employment opportunities for our people.
Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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The key question I asked relates to the credibility of the new structures. I repeat that I believe the leopard has not changed its spots, that since the investigations took place participants who were to re-sit examinations did not turn up and the certification is issuing to them, and that is not acceptable. That is at the core of all of this.
It is a year since there was an EU audit of European Social Fund moneys which were expended on FÁS programmes. There has been a draft decision of the EU, which the Tánaiste has not published for some months. At what stage is that draft finding against the Department, what response did the Tánaiste make to it and what is the present situation regarding the money that is alleged to be outstanding?
Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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First, that is totally outside the remit of this question. That being said, the issue on ESF funding has been clarified by officials in my Department to the committee. We will see a draw-down of the ESF entitlements on the basis of a new computerisation which is being provided for.
The position is as follows. I want to give confidence to many who work within FÁS who, as all of the Members of this House know in their hearts and souls, provide a great service. We must give confidence to those staff. We must be learner focused and ensure that we can provide relevant training and skills, regardless of the participants academic acumen. We also must provide training opportunities for those with a disability.
We will see a situation where the strategic focus of FÁS will be based on the full implementation of its strategic plan. I will wholeheartedly support the board in the transfer to the Department of Social Protection, in the provision of new services and in how we will ensure that the learner will benefit.
Deputy O'Dowd stated he believed the leopard has not changed its spots.
Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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It is called fiddling examination results.
Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I listened carefully to what has been said by Deputy O'Dowd. He indicated two or three weeks ago that he did not want to see private provision of services through FÁS and now part of his new documents is that FÁS should be abolished and we should provide its services only through the private sector.
Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Allow the Tánaiste to conclude, we are over time.
Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The monitoring and quality control of programmes, and their relevance, have been changed. That has been done. We are working through a number of historical issues that will be dealt with fully.
Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Real and live right now, not historical.